Door opens wide for Oshkosh

Not only could UW Oshkosh be the No. 1 team in the nation for the first time on Tuesday, more important are several results from the weekend that put the Titans in the driver’s seat for a WIAC title. As you know, parity isn’t a word used very often to describe D-III volleyball. See the AVCA poll trivia in the previous post. Parity definitely doesn’t exist in WIAC volleyball, and I highly doubt two losses will win the league this year. Oshkosh, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Whitewater are this year’s clear favorites, although a couple other teams will at least be on the bubble – if not locks – for the postseason.

Two matches into the WIAC season, Eau Claire and Whitewater already have a loss and the top three have not even played each other in-conference. Whitewater (1-1) is at Oshkosh (2-0) this Wednesday in what looks like a must-win if UWW wants to win the WIAC regular season. Oshkosh also gets UWEC (1-1) at home in two weeks. UWO has won 22 straight home matches, by the way. For what it’s worth, UWW hosts UWEC in mid-October. All of the ingredients are there for a WIAC conference tourney in Oshkosh. It already was based on the schedule, but the road got much clearer with the early upsets of UWW and UWEC.

While this early WIAC tourney talk is warranted, the bigger picture is still muddy. However, Carthage lost this weekend, which also gives Oshkosh a leg up in its pursuit of hosting another regional.

The bottom line is the WIAC regular-season title could be lost for Whitewater on Wednesday, three matches into the conference sked. It’s disappointing that the matchups everyone knew would decide the WIAC have to come so early.

Agree or disagree on any of this?

-Ricky Nelson